Etsy

About Etsy

Etsy was founded by Robert Kalin, Chris Maguire, Haim Schoppik, Jared Tarbell.

Etsy is a peer-to-peer (P2P) e-commerce website focused on handmade or vintage items and supplies, as well as unique factory-manufactured items. These items cover a wide range, including art, photography, clothing, jewelry, food, bath and beauty products, quilts, knick-knacks, and toys. Many sellers also sell craft supplies such as beads, wire and jewelry-making tools. All vintage items must be at least 20 years old. The site follows in the tradition of open craft fairs, giving sellers personal storefronts where they list their goods for a fee of US$0.20 per item.

As of December 31, 2014, Etsy had 54 million users registered as members, and the online marketplace for handmade and vintage goods connected 1.4 million active sellers with 19.8 million active buyers. At the end of 2014, Etsy had 685 employees, and had 29 million items listed on its website. In 2014, Etsy clocked a total sales (Gross Merchandise Sales or GMS) of US$1.93 billion on the platform. Of this, 36.1% came from purchases made on mobile devices and 30.9% was generated outside the USA.

In 2014, Etsy garnered a revenue of US$195.6 million, and registered a net loss of US$15.2 million. Etsy generates revenue primarily from three revenue streams. Its ‘Marketplace’ revenue includes a fee of 3.5% of sale value, which an Etsy seller pays for each completed transaction, and a listing fee of 20 Cents per item. ‘Seller Services’, Etsy‘s fastest growing revenue stream, includes fees for services such as Promoted Listings, payment processing and purchases of shipping labels through the platform. ‘Other’ revenue includes fees received from third-party payment processors.

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Some info on Etsy

Etsy has an excessive amount of people showcasing their work, which is not curated or monitored for infringement, quality or commercial viability. Unless you slog away at sales advertising or have a niche market you get lost in the crowd.

As they don’t actually make the products, the quality is based on the users own criteria and delivery. They used to be a craft store sales platform only offering originals, but today it has opened up to allow even big names to have stores on their site.

No watermarking on their images.

They have a fee that is charged on items over 10 to be shown in the store front.

Free to join, but they have a fee for showcasing more than 10 items on your shop. Which has a 90 day cycle. The fee is per item.

Etsy Product Line

Etsy has no specific product line, as it is open for sellers to advertise and promote their own crafts and products, so no items to show here.

Etsy Reviews

Etsy Reviews

7Reviewer

0Users(0 votes)

Pros

• if you can make it, you can sell it
• large selling audience
• easy uploading

Cons

• shop expansion fee
• large selling audience
• no watermarking, unless you do yourself
• needs a lot of advertising to work

Summary

Society6 is one of the more well-known POD sites. It is a good starting point to get your feet wet in the POD process. That said, there are too many artists on the site, many uploading almost about anything hoping to make a fast buck. There are some issues with some of their products and many have had comments about shipping. If you want to try your hand at the system of POD art selling, this is a good starting point.